Sunday, January 13, 2008

Raita

Raita is a delicious yogurt sauce used to cool and refresh the mouth while eating spicy dishes. It's a wonderful accompaniment to meats and fresh vegetables. The fenugreek leaves (also known as methi) are the only ingredient you might have trouble finding, and can be omitted, although they do give an interesting maple flavor to the sauce. Pinch and grind the fenugreek leaves in the palm of your hand before adding.

Raita
1 each juice and zest of a lemon
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1/2 english cucumber, deseeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 T cilantro, chopped
Fenugreek leaves (methi), pinch
2 cups plain yogurt

Mix ingredients and serve.

3 comments:

UDCMRK said...

I do a slight variation. I like to finely grate the cucumber (using the slice part of a grater). Then, I salt them and let them sit for about an hour. After that, I squeeze out all the excess water and then mix in with the other ingredients. I do this for other dishes that can use a slivered cucumber. My mother claimed it cut down on the heartburn quotient of cukes. Not sure about that, but I like the way that it give you more cuke and less water

Chris Freeland said...

Cool, I'll have to give that a try. I do hate how it gets kinda soggy after sitting!

Ramki said...

Hi Chris,

Have blogged your Raita as a model recipe in the One Page Cookbook 1001 Raitas at http://ramkicooks.blogspot.com
/Thanks for the recipe